Garnished in plaid and radish earrings
by Sarcasm Intended
Summary: OotP Someone stands up for Professor Trelawney when Umbridge first attempts to sack her.


**Disclaimer:** Certain things do not belong to me… including Harry Potter. The few quotes I've pulled from the books do not belong to me either.

P.S. I'm sorry if you have difficulty reading this due to the formatting, Word Doc has been giving me problems. I hoped you enjoyed regardless. This was my first FF; so if you do review please don't be too harsh.

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><p><strong><em>"Dare to be naïve."<em>**_Richard Buckminster Fuller_

Professor Trelawney stumbled tripping upon her suitcase. Umbridge stalked forward her heels clacking across the hard stone courtyard a grin plastered on her face. The air was thick with tension as the eccentric professor fought to stifle her sobs but failed miserably.

"Please, you can't do this…" she gulped her eyes wet with tears. "Hogwarts…is my home." Her normal ethereal and mystic tone was replaced by one of grief. She sniffled adjusting the thick-rimmed spectacles on her face.

"Actually I can." Umbridge smiled as she raised Sybill's dismissal papers. Students were gathered around the courtyard watching the banishment of their Divinations teacher. Padma and Pavarti had very angry looks on their faces as they watched their teacher who had become a good friend to them cry as she clung to her tote bag. They knew they could do nothing however. The students gasping shattered the silence.

Now standing in front of the Professor was a short blonde girl. Her hair reached down to her waist with scraggly ends. She had large silver eyes that appeared to be looking off in another direction. Umbridge looked down to the small blonde girl her smirk dropping ever so slightly.

Trelawneys eyes were wide with shock as she looked down to the young student in front of her. She recognized the girl as Luna Lovegood. A ravenclaw 4th year. The girl was wise beyond her years, this much the staff had noticed. Unfortunately the students of Hogwarts didn't seem to understand her and often bullied the unconventional witch.

"I don't think you are being very nice." The girl commented as she looked to Umbridge with a seemingly distant look in her silver eyes. Members of the D.A. looked to the scene with wide eyes.

_"Is that Loony?" S_omeone asked in a hushed tone.

_"What is she doing?"_Another questioned.

Umbridge peered down at the small blonde girl whose ears were garnished in what looked like radish earrings. Trelawney had never had someone stick up for her before. Even as a young girl her eccentric ways were always the butt of one cruel joke or another. A lot of the staff, more so the students didn't have much respect for her.

"This doesn't concern you Ms…" Umbridge paused awaiting Luna to finish the sentence with her last name. Luna however blinked as if she were waiting for Umbridge to finish her sentence. The two looked to one another in deafening silence. Umbridge grew more and more frustrated with every waiting moment.

"The Wrackspurts must've impaired your ability to talk, perhaps you should pay a visit to Madame Pomfrey." Luna stated with genuine concern her large silver eyes looking over the short plump woman in front of her. Umbridges mouth fell open and she found herself at a loss for words. "Yes it appears you have a rather serious case." Students around were not sure how to react. Ginny was debating if she should pull Luna out of the situation, as were several members of the D.A. "Normally they don't affect ones vocal chords. But there is an article in The Quibbler about such cases…"

"Don't mention that _rag_ in my presence." Umbridge interrupted Luna in mid sentence. The blonde girls eyes lost some of its mistiness and her look of concern turned to something else. It was not hatred, not anger. Rather something unidentifiable, something blank. Blank was not something she knew how to deal with.

"My father is the editor." The girl stated calmly the dreaminess in her voice having dropped. Umbridge smile returned. It seemed as if she had struck a nerve.

"Ah so then you are Ms. Luna Lovegood." Umbridge acknowledged. She remembered the Lovegood family. The ministry had run into several problems with them. The paper that Xenophillius fellow had been running had accused them of several conspiracies. Two of which happened to be true.

"Your father disgraces the name of wizardry with his ridiculous ideas. His poor excuse for a paper is based upon lies." Umbridges normally perky voice barely covered the malice in her words. "Your mother was a rather odd one too and as they say the apple does not fall far from the tree." The girl's body tensed.

She remained silent for a few moments as her eyes drifted to the floor, her cheeks flushing red with anger. The whites of her knuckles shone underneath her porcelain skin while she balled her fists into tight balls. She looked up from the small girls form feeling victorious.

Harry felt his own fists clench as he remembered how Luna had told him of her mother's death. How she had witnessed it at the ripe age of nine. He knew what it was like to have lost someone.

"No ma'am." The girl spoke again her voice low. It wasn't the anathematic tone that most would've been reduced to by this point. Umbridge snapped her head down at the girl. "My mother was a very loving and intelligent woman. My father is a very brilliant man, and one as closed-minded as yourself would never understand. And as for disgracing the name of wizardry perhaps you should take a look at yourself." The large group of spectators let out an audible gasp.

"You can't even keep the wrackspurts away." The young girl shook her head in disapproval. The normal calm and inattentive tone returning. "You aren't to blame though." She continued. "The centaurs have difficulty keeping them away too. I've…" Dolores grew angry. How dare this girl compare her to a filthy race of half-breeds.

"Why you insolent little…" Umbridge was cut off as Mcgonnagal approached taking a defensive stance in front of both the Professor and Luna.

The deputy headmistress stood in her dark emerald green robes and pointed black top hat that fell slightly to the left side. Her normal stern expression tainted slightly by an extreme dislike for the woman clothed in a sickening amount of pink plaid in front of her. Plaid had been a favorite design of hers but the sight of Dolores in it made the pattern far less appealing.

"Is there something you would like to say, Minerva?" Umbridge challenged the Gryffindor head of house.

"Oh, there are several things I would like to say, Dolores!" Mcgonnagal countered embracing the sobbing seer. Sybill brought a handkerchief to her nose sniffling. There was a loud bang that echoed through the stone courtyard. The throng of students turned their gaze to their esteemed headmaster.

"We do not insult students here." The headmaster declared in a calm and pleasant tone as he walked over towards the professors. His half moon spectacles sitting on the bridge of his crooked nose. His light blue robes shifted as his fast paced walk halted as he stood in front of Mcgonnagal, Sybill and Luna. "Professor Mcgonnagal if you would please escort Sybill back inside." He added.

"Thank you, thank you." The Divinations professor spluttered as Mcgonnagal led her forward. She stopped for a moment however and embraced the blonde girl who had come to her defense. "Thank you." She repeated to Luna this time. Luna hugged the bizarre teacher a void look painting her features. Mcggonnagal practically pulled the sobbing teacher from the young girls small form and led her back into the castle.

"By order of the ministry." Umbridge puffed raising the orders of dismissal.

"You have the right to dismiss one of my faculty but you haven't the authority to banish them from the grounds." Umbridge looked irked as her hand clutched the paper in irritation. "That power remains to the headmaster alone." He finished an aura of authority about him.

"For now." She responded a slight smile on her face. "And you Ms. Lovegood..."

"Will be awarded with 10 house points to Ravenclaw." Dumbledore interrupted. The Ravenclaws examining the scene cheered. The plaid clad professor huffed in protest and stormed off her heels clacking with every step.

Luna hummed as she gazed up into the clouds. Dumbledore smiled down at the witch. A redheaded girl ran forward and pulled the blonde into a tight hug.

"Oh hello Ginny." The girl smiled greeting her friend not yet looking down at her. Luna's large silver eyes drifted down from the clouds and down to the lanky elderly headmaster. She looked to him with a bright smile.

"Professor. Dumbledore!" He heard Harry shout. He winked at the girl and walked away from Harry's persistent shouts.

"That was very brave of you." Ginny approved as she released her friend from her embrace.

"Brave, it was bloody brilliant." Ron laughed. "The old bat didn't know what hit her." he added amused.

Members of the D.A. patted Luna's back and praised her for her efforts. Fred Weasley mussed her hair and asked if she was always such a troublemaker. George laughed and goaded Luna. Ginny waved her elder brothers off and pulled Luna alongside her as the two walked off to their potions class.

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><p>I'm not really sure what the whole purpose of this story was. Perhaps it was simply to get my feet wet before I dive into the wonderful pool of fanfiction. Hopefully I don't drown.<p> 


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